Liquid dispenser



J. B. OCONNOR LIQUID DISPENSER Dec. 5, 1933.

2 Sheets-Sheet l Filed Feb. 28, 1933 ELM/MA;

Dec. 5, 1933.

J. B. OCONNOR 1,938,151

LIQUID DISPENSER Filed Feb. 28, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Dec. 5,1933 LIQUID DISPENSER Joseph B. OConnor, Lawler, Iowa ApplicationFebruary 28, 1933. Serial No. 658,987-

Claims.

This invention relates to devices for dispensing liquids such asvinegar, cider or the like and the general object of the invention is toprovide a dispensing device of this character which em- 6 bodies a mainreservoir or tank and compartments'or containers, each having a certaindefi-v nite capacity, as for instance, onegallon, onehalf gallon, onequart, etc., the containers being provided with faucets and the devicebeing so constructed that the several containers will be kept filledfrom the main reservoir but communication with the main reservoir willbe cut oil when the jug or other vessel to be filled is put intoposition beneath the faucet. g

A further object is to provide adevice of this character which includesa slide or drawer upon which the vessel to be filled is disposed, theslide or drawer being moved inward to carry the vessel beneath thefaucet and this action automatically cutting off communication betweenthe main reservoir and the several containers so that no more than theproper measured amount can be drawn from the compartment or container,the opening in the drawer or slide to permit the removal of the filledvessel acting automatically to reopen communication between the mainreservoir and the measuring compartments.

A further object is to provide means whereby air may be vented from thecompartments to permit them to be emptied as soon as communicationbetween the measuring compartments and the main reservoir has been cutoff.

Other objects will appear in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein: t

Figure 1 isa vertical section from front to rear through adispensingstructure in accord,- ance with my invention; 1

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2- of Figure 1; 1

Figure 3 isan enlarged fragmentary section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;V

Figure 4 is a fragmentary vertical section on the same plane as Figure 1and showing a modified means for'closing and opening the valve;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary section on the line 5-5 of Figure 4. rReferring to these drawings, 10 designates an sired.v This outer casingconstitutes in efiect a main reservoir or storage tank which isdesigouter casing which may be made of any suitable nated 11 and whosebottom is designated12. Below the main reservoir is a portion 13 whichis divided into a plurality of measuring compartments or containers asillustrated in Figure 2. r

This portion 14 is dividedby means of the in-, terior walls 15 into acompartment 16 adapted to contain one gallon, the compartment 17 adaptedto contain a half gallon, a compartment 18 containing one quart and acompartment 19 containing a pint. This is purely illustrative, it is tobe understood, and these compartments may be of other capacities thanthose stated.

The compartments are so arranged that at the junction of the walls 15all of the'compartments, adjoin each other, and at this junction of allof the several compartments 16 to 19,'there is formed the opening 20through the wall 12. This opening 20 will, therefore, discharge into allof the severalcompartments 16 to 19. This opening 20 may be closedatitslower end by a diaphragm 21 having openings 22 or the opening 20may be,

left entirely clear. The bottom 12 of the storage tank 10 immediatelysurrounding the opening 20 is formed to provide a valve seat 23 andextending upward through the center of the opening, 20 is 39 a rod 24which is concentric to the opening 20 and which is mounted upon thewalls 15, attheir intersection.

Disposed concentrically to the rod 24 is a tubular valve stem 25 whichif vinegar is being dispensed, for instance, will be of wood, thoughobviously I do not wish to be limited to the use of this material. Y I

This 'valve stem extends upward entirely through the chamber 11 and atits lower end the valve stem is provided with the sleeve 26 which may bemade of rubber or like material, the lower end of this sleeve beingextended inward as at 27. This sleeve constitutes the valve propercarried by the stem and seats against the:seat 23, the portion 27projecting inwardly beyond the seat 23 and over the opening 20.

As before remarked, this ,valve stem 25 is tubular and the interiordiameter of the lower portion of the valve stem is somewhat larger than190 the rod 24. This tubular interior of thevalve stem is enlarged anddisposed within this enlarged portion is anair vent valve 28 which isadapted to seat upon the annular shoulder 29 forming the lower end ofthe enlarged portion 27 of the valve stem 25. The air vent valve 28 isprovided with a stem 30 which extends upward nearly to the upper end ofthe tubular valve of stem 25 and at its upper end is engaged by a coiledcompression spring 31 which bears against a pin no i or collar 32carried by the spring 30, the upper end of this spring bearing against acap or closure 33 formed with vent openings 34.

A perforated metallic cap may rest upon this closure 33 and be engagedwith the valve stem in any suitable manner or such a metallic cap 35 maybe omitted.

The upper end of the valve stem 25 extends beyond the upper end of thestorage tank and the upper end of the valve stem is operativelyconnected to a lever 36 whose fulcrum is designated 39. This lever maybe enclosed within a housing or not as preferred but preferably it isenclosed Within a housing. One end of this lever extends out through thehousing and is there connected to a depending link 3'7.

The front of the dispensing tank and particularly of the portion 13thereof, is provided with a plurality of taps or faucets 38, there beinga tap or faucet for each of the several compartments 16 to 19. It willbe seen that when the lever 36 isdepressed at itsouter end, the valvestem 25 will beraised and that as thevalve stem is raised, the air valve28 will lower against its seat 29:

Whenthe-valve-steniflf: is raised, the valve 2'7 is raised from its seat23' and as a consequence, liquid in the storage tank can flowinto anyone of the various measuring compartments 16-to 19 which happens tobeempty. If all ofthe com-' partments are-empty,-all of the*compartments will be filled and, of course, if only-one of'thecompartments is. empty, that particular compart- Inent will be filled,the air in thesecompartments passing upward through the opening 20-'and*up through the liquid in the tank and collecting in the upper portionofthe tank' l1,--thus permitting the dischargeof liquid into oneor'more-ofjthe' compartments.

As was heretofore stated, one of the objects of theinvention is toprovide a dispensing device-of this character in'which communicationbetween pulledoutward, it-will pull downward on the' link' the storagetank and the' measuring: "compartments will be cut off automaticallywhena vessel is disposed beneath one of the faucets and whereincommunication will be established-between thestorage'tankand an emptycompartment when filled; vessel is -removed from beneath the tap.

To this end, I- have provided a'sliding element designated generally '39sliding in guides in "the base 40 of the apparatus. 1 This slide ispreferably in-the-form 'of a drawer, and'a connection isp'rovidedbetween the slide and the link 3'7 such that as'the' slide ispushed inward; it will act to shift the link 3'7 upward, thus forcingthe valve-"26 down against 1 its: seat 23 but when -the slide is 37,liftingthe valve 26 from itsseat.

- Various mechanisms-may be provided to this end and I do notwish tobelimited-to the particu lar embodiment or embodimentsillustrated; InFigure 1, I have illustrated the slide or drawer as being mounted uponlinks 41 which are pivoted at their upper :ends as at 42 and pivotallyconnected at 43 to the slide or element 39g-this element 39 being inturnconnected by a lever 44 to the link-3'7 so that as the slide'ispushed-in ward, the link 37 will be raised andas the slide ispulledoutward, the link 37 will b'e lowered, thus: acting upon the. valve26 aspreviously described In dispensing liquids with this'apparatuS as just--described the jug'or other container-is placed" upon-rtheslide 39whenfthe: slidei's' pulled outward; It is then pushed inward-so-astocar'r-y' the jug beneath the proper faucet or tap: Prefer-" ably, theslide under these circumstances, will *be 5 ment:

-do not wish to be limited; th'erefore;-t'o these-mun'ication--between-the storage tankformed with a front wall 45 whichwill act to position the jug exactly beneath the faucet at the time whenthe slide has been pushed in sufficiently far to entirely close thevalve 26and open the vent valve 28. Then when the proper faucet isturned, the liquid within the particular compartment to which the faucetis connected will be discharged into the jug to a measured amount andwhen this amount has been discharged, no more liquid can-run into thejug. The drawer or slide is then retracted or'pulled open, of course,after the faucet has been closed and this automatically openscommunication between the storage tank and the empty compart- In ljigure4, I show another means for operating-the valve-w means of the saidslide or drawer in-swhich the sides of the drawer or slide 39a areprovided with downwardly and rearwardly extendingslots, numbered 46. Thelink 37, under these circumstances, is provided with the crossbarMlle-extremities of wl" ch eng gein these 1 1 53 L: 1: 3..:. :.:1:xi. a ii; It is obvious now that when the drawer or slide 39a is pulledoutward, the lihk3'l willbe pulled downward, opening communicationbetween l the storaget'ank and the emptied*compajrtment and thatwhen thedrawer is pushed inward to "carry a jug'orother vessel into positionbeneaththe faucet, the-link 37-will*b'e pushed upwardfthus' closing thevalve 26. These are only twomeans which may be used for automaticallyopenirfgt valve26 and closing th'e'vent-valve browsing} the valve 26 andopeningthe air vent valve-and 'I particular forms or embodiments treeeasdefined in the appended cnimsyeeaher do wish tO bG limited 170 13118spcifid elfibodihlelit inventionas illustrated except as defined miteappended. l i if. 4,; i; l.: $11

-I C1aim2- A dispenser of the character described including 'a storag'etank, a pluiality di s-learning compartments with' -vv'hich the'st'oragetankcorn municat'e's} a 'valve normally closingcommunes: 129tion-between the storage-tame and the se measuringcompartments'f-tapsconnected to t e measuring compartments, and 1 meansactiii'g automatically'whenavessel is b'rought b "mama articuiar taptocut oif communicat eat-sea the storage 'tank and all or am -66mm r mand acting automaticallywhenthe vessel is Wl drawn from beneath a tap'toreestablis several compartments. 7

*2'. -'A- dispensei'-"of the character described ineluding a storagetank, a'plurality ofifi' 'g' compartmeiit's with which th storagea,mulfl'i'Cat'e'S; a valve normany erosing cm tion between the storagetank ai'id "the af measuring compartments; tapsconhected to themeasuring compartments, and means acting automatically when-awash isdis-pos'd b'eneat ha particular tap to cut off 'communication bet thestorage tank andthe 'several compartm @149 and open'communicationbetweentlle 'out de irf; and the'sever'al eom ar m naisaidmea mg automatically wh'erf'the *vess'e1 is removed from beneath the tapto reestablish communication bi e tweenthe-- storage 'tanl rv maneseverelyeam'- 1&5 pa'rtments' andcut offf'communi'cationbetwe theatmospheric ai'r'and the iiit'e'lor of th artment's jj p; 13f. I; ;:(9;i s,

BIA-dispensing device of the character described including a storaget'anki a' plul ality 159 measuring compartments each connected to thestorage tank by a common opening, each of said compartments having atap, a valve movable into position to close said opening or out of suchposition, a sliding element adapted to support a jug and when movedinward carrying the jug beneath a selected tap, and means connected tothe sliding element for automatically shifting the valve to a positionto close communication between therstorage tank and the measuringcompartments when the said element has moved inward to carry the vesselbeneath a tap, said means opening said valve when the sliding element isretracted to permit the removal of the jug from beneath the faucet.

4. A dispensing apparatus of the character described including a storagetank, a plurality of measuring compartments, there being a passageleading from the storage tank to all of the several compartments andconstituting a valve seat, taps for each one of the severalcompartments, a vertically movable tubular valve disposed within thestorage tank, and adapted to close said passage when the valve islowered, the interior of said tubular valve having communication withthe outside air, an air vent valve within the tubular valve, a seatwithin the tubular valve against which the air vent valve rests, the airvent valve being urged to its seat, a rod extending upward through thelower end of the tubular valve and adapted to contact with the air valvewhen the tubular valve is lowered to its seat to thus raise the air ventvalve, the air valve closing when the tubular valve is raised, and meansfor automatically closingthe tubular valve when a receptacle is placedbeneath any one of the faucets including a slidable element upon whichthe receptacle is adapted to be disposed, and means operativelyconnecting the slidable element to said tubular valve to cause thedownward movement of the tubular valve when the slidable element isdrawn outward away fromthe faucets and to cause the opening of thetubular valve when the slidable element is moved inward toward thefaucets.

5. A dispensing device of the character de-, scribed comprising astorage, a plurality of measuring compartments disposed below thestorage tank, the bottom of the storage tank having a single openingcommunicating with all of the measuring compartments and constituting avalve seat, an annular valve coacting with said seat and having atubular valve stem, the hollow interior of the stem being formed with avalve seat, an air valve disposed within the tubular stem and urged toits seat, the several compartments having taps, a sliding elementadaptedv to support receptacles to be filled through said taps, a leverconnected to the upper end of the tubular valve, a'link depending fromthe lever, an operative connection between the sliding element and saidlink to cause the closing of said valve and the opening of the air valvewhen the sliding element is pushed inward to carry a receptacle beneathone of the taps and cause the opening of the annular valve and theclosing of the air valve when the sliding element is pulled outward tocarry the receptacle away from said taps.

JOSEPH B. OCONNOR.

